Instant Analysis: Boise State uses ‘animal hands’ approach to secure victory at Nevada

Boise State football coach Bryan Harsin wants his receivers to develop “animal hands.”

“Animal hands is attacking the ball, instead of letting the ball come to you,” sophomore wide receiver CT Thomas said Saturday night at Mackay Stadium.

That’s what Thomas did on a critical, fourth-and-8 reception that allowed the Broncos to close out a 31-27 victory over Nevada.

And that’s what Harsin did by sending his offense onto the field for that play — deciding he’d rather win the game with his senior quarterback than by asking his defense to make another stand against Nevada’s offense.

Harsin let his Broncos go win the game, rather than letting the win come to them.

“For him to have that confidence in us to go make that play just shows a lot about him,” said Brett Rypien, the senior QB who recovered from a miserable first half to lead a strong offensive performance in the second half. “He’s not afraid to do a lot of things, to take risks, which I like in a head coach.”

[Related: Boise State overcome sloppy start to beat Nevada; Two big plays kept Boise State out of serious trouble; Young QB out for the year]

Harsin sent that message at the end of the first half, when the Broncos got the ball with 37 seconds left and came out firing — eventually setting up a field goal. He sent it again on the opening drive of the second half, when Rypien threw a touchdown pass to Thomas on fourth-and-6 from the Nevada 36-yard line.

“Really, the changing point in the game was that drive that we had before half,” Rypien said.

The Broncos, who committed three turnovers and nine penalties in the first half, used the momentum built right before halftime to seize control with two touchdown drives in the third quarter. Rypien threw his third interception in the fourth quarter but the defense responded with its only three-and-out of the game.

The Broncos regained possession at their 15-yard line with 8 minutes, 26 seconds on the clock and a four-point lead. They would run 17 plays (14 of them rushes) covering 61 yards, burning all three of Nevada’s timeouts and all but 6 seconds of the game clock.

The most important play on that drive was the throw to Thomas.

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Harsin had decided on third-and-6 at the Nevada 37 that he wasn’t going to kick a field goal or punt. He also wanted to keep the clock moving, so the play would be a run. The Broncos spread the field with hopes that the Wolf Pack would expect a pass. Instead, they blitzed and stuffed tailback Alexander Mattison for a 2-yard loss.

It was fourth-and-8 at the 39 with 3:17 left on the clock after Nevada called its final timeout. A first down, Harsin knew, would all but end the game. A failed conversion would give Nevada the ball about 60 yards away from a game-winning touchdown.

“We needed to find a way to go get the first down,” Harsin said.

Coaches called the same play that resulted in Thomas’ fourth-down touchdown catch earlier in the half. But at the line of scrimmage, Rypien made an adjustment based on the coverage. He gave Thomas a signal that converted his vertical route from the left slot into an out route to the sideline at the first-down marker.

Rypien had told Thomas on the sideline that situation might come up. Rypien knew as soon as he made the adjustment that Thomas would be his likely target.

On the previous drive, Thomas had blamed himself for Rypien’s interception — a high throw that glanced off his hands.

“I was kind of hurt from dropping that pass,” he said. “I had to let that play go and come back and make another play.”

Thomas matched up with safety Dameon Baber, who intercepted Rypien twice in the first half. Baber was in good position but Thomas was able to snatch the ball out of the air and reach it across the first-down line in one motion.

“The defender actually had pretty good coverage,” Thomas said, “so I had to stretch out and take the ball away from him.”

The ball — and the game.

“The whole drive, I was just worried about finishing the game,” Thomas said. “Finishing and bringing back the W to Boise.”

Chadd Cripe is the Idaho Statesman’s sports columnist. Contact him at ccripe@idahostatesman.com and follow @chaddcripe on Twitter.

This story was originally published October 14, 2018 at 5:02 AM.